Faculty Appointment Dylan Burnette
I am delighted to announce a tenure track appointment of Dylan Burnette, Ph.D. to the rank of Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental, effective February 1, 2014.
Dylan was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda Maryland. He did his graduate work in the laboratory of Paul Forscher in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology department at Yale University. Throughout his career, Dylan has used high- and super-resolution microscopy to focus on the role of the cytoskeleton in cell motility, first in neuronal growth cone guidance and then in epithelial cell movement. Dylan’s work in these areas have led to several papers published in Nature Cell Biology, Journal of Cell Biology, PNAS, Developmental Cell, Current Biology, and Neuron. He also brings a strong record of collaboration with him to Vanderbilt as he has made substantial contributions to studies published in Journal of Cell Biology, Cell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Nature Cell Biology, and Nature Methods. Dylan has received numerous awards including a Pharmacological Research Associate (PRAT) postdoctoral fellowship NIGMS, the Merton Bernfield Award for “outstanding research by a scientist in training” from the American Society of Cell Biology, and numerous international microscopy awards.
Dylan’s postdoctoral work focused on the role of myosin II-based contractile assemblies on the top surface of crawling cells. He first showed that the formation of this contractile system controls the speed of crawling cells by regulating the position of focal adhesions. Subsequently, Dylan discovered that this contractile network also controls the ability of cells to generate 3D forces on their environment as well as control the 3D shape of cells. Importantly, knowing how cell speed, traction generation, and shape are integrated is vital for our understanding how cancer cells spread during metastasis.
Ian Macara, Ph.D.
Louise B. McGavock Professor, and Chair
Dept. of Cell and Developmental Biology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center